Not all cheap laptops are slow, flimsy clunkers. Here are the 4 best weve tried.

We reviewed the best budget laptops for students, gaming, and everyday productivity, including the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air (M4).

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Not all cheap laptops are slow, flimsy clunkers. Here are the 4 best we've tried.

We reviewed the best budget laptops for students, gaming, and everyday productivity.

Haley Henschel

Haley Henschel

Senior Shopping Reporter

Haley Henschel is a Chicago-based Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable who reviews and finds deals on popular tech, from laptops to gaming consoles and VPNs. She has years of experience covering shopping holidays and can tell you what’s actually worth buying on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. Her work has also explored the driving forces behind digital trends within the shopping sphere, from dupes to 12-foot skeletons.

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on March 1, 2026

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Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Even if you get a good deal on it, a slow, crappily made laptop will leave you feeling burned every time you boot it up.

That's why we take an egalitarian approach to vetting the best laptops here at Mashable. Every model our team reviews gets put through the same rigorous testing process, whether it's a premium Apple MacBook, a mid-range Copilot+ PC, or a bare-bones Chromebook. The laptops that ultimately get our seal of approval offer the choicest blends of performance, stamina, build quality, and overall value at their respective price points (something that's getting harder to do across the board amid a global RAM shortage).

Of course, reducing your budget generally means making some kind of spec sacrifice. When it comes to the best cheap laptops, our picks don't necessarily need to outperform or outclass pricier models (though that's always nice). Rather, they just need to make the least amount of compromises compared to their peers — so you do the least amount of settling.

If you're trying to avoid fugly, quick-to-die clunkers on your quest for a good, affordable laptop, keep reading.

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